UMBC organizations and individuals prepare to recycle!  Recycle at your scheduled events, host a recycling event, or create a competition of your own.  Help us beat last year’s 17% recycling rate. Contact us; let us know what you’re planning and we will include your event on the RecycleMania calendar. If you need ideas for what to do, visit http://www.recyclemaniacs.org/index.htm. Recyclemania is supported by UMBC ReSET (Retriever Sustainability Events Team), a Student Affairs and Facilities Management partnership.  Contact: recycle@umbc.edu

RecycleMania is a friendly competition among college and university recycling programs in North America and Canada. For 8 weeks each spring, schools compete in different categories to see which institution can collect the largest amount of recyclables per capita, the largest amount of total recyclables, the least amount of waste per capita or have the highest recycling rate. The competition starts January 22 with two weeks of pre-season preparation. The official competition runs February 5 thru March 31 when all the campus recycling and waste weight totals will be reported.

Last year, 91 million pounds of recyclables and organic materials were recovered, which prevented the release of nearly 127,553 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2E). This reduction in greenhouse gases is equivalent to the annual emissions from more than 25,000 passenger cars; electricity use of more than nearly 15,500 homes; or the burning of nearly 695 railcars’ worth of coal.

"One unique aspect of RecycleMania is that everyone is a competitor,” noted Bill Rudy, recycling coordinator at Brigham Young University and chair of the RecycleMania Steering Committee. “No one sits on the sidelines. When a student recycles they add to their score and if they throw something away it hurts the school’s ranking. With the whole campus in the game, the competitive spirit spreads and recycling increases.”

RecycleMania is an independent program of the RecycleMania Steering Committee. The competition is made possible with the sponsorship support of SCA Tissue, The Coca-Cola Company, Alcoa Foundation, Waste Management, Keep America Beautiful and the American Forest & Paper Association. Program management is provided by Keep America Beautiful with additional program support from the US EPA’s WasteWise program and the College and University Recycling Coalition (CURC).

So you may (or may not) have heard about some of the things that UMBC is doing to reduce its carbon emissions. To give you some background as to why, here is some information about the university's Climate Change Task Force.

What is the CCTF?: 

    The Climate Change Task Force is a mixture of faculty, students, and staff who work together to reduce the university's greenhouse gas emissions.

    The group is charged with (from the UMBC Sustainability Website):

1. "Developing a comprehensive plan to achieve climate neutrality as soon as possible,"

2. "Initiating a number of tangible actions to reduce greenhouse gases while the more comprehensive plan is being developed,"

3. "Making our action plan, inventory, and periodic progress reports publicly available by providing them to the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education"

The CCTF is broken down into 4 workgroups that focus on different elements of sustainability. These groups include:

Transportation

Education and Outreach

Energy and Waste

Research and Education

When was the CCTF Founded?: 

     The CCTF was founded in 2007 when President Hrabowski signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. This document expresses the university's concerns about Climate Change's negative impacts on our economic, social and environmental well-being. It also emphasizes the need for the university to be a leader within their community and throughout society in battling Climate Change. 

Who is involved with the CCTF?: 

    Members are people from all over the campus. Students, Faculty, and Staff work together to create and implement sustainability projects. Anyone can be involved!

What does the CCTF do?: 

   Since 2007 the CCTF has created a greenhouse gas inventory that documents where our emissions are coming from and their magnitude. It has also created a Climate Action Plan which outlines the steps that the university will take to reduce its carbon footprint. 

    As part of this plan, the CCTF has implemented a number of different projects including ZipCars, Carpooling for Faculty/Staff, greater use of renewable energy, a green roof on the Patapsco Hall addition, composting at True Grit’s, single stream recycling and increased energy efficiency within Heating and Cooling Systems. Net emissions were reduced by 11% by 2010 from 2007!

If you would like more information about UMBC’s sustainability initiatives check out www.umbc.edu/sustainability  or email mhall13 to get involved. 

What is "Biodiesel"?

Biodiesel is an alternative fuel created from waste vegetable oil. 

How is it produced?

Biodiesel can be made with a fairly simple process known as transesterification. The process involves the exposure of waste vegetable oil to alcohol, cataylst, and heat. I won't bore you with the mechanics of the reaction, but if you are truly interested, please visit the document entitled "Biodiesel Production Analysis" under the Biodiesel Club's Community Page for a detailed description.

What are the benefits?

•  A Cleaner Environment
  Biodiesel is the only alternative fuel to voluntarily perform EPA testing for emission characteristics and health effects. The study declared that a 20% biodiesel blend reduced total hydrocarbons up to 30%, carbon monoxide by up to 20%, and total particulate matter up to 15%. It was also noted that the ozone forming potential of pure biodiesel is 50% less than that of petroleum fuel. Biodiesel contains no sulfur, and thus releases zero sulfur dioxide emissions.
• Better Health
  Biodiesel is safer to breathe! Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and nitrated PAH (nPAH) compounds are potential cancer-causing compounds found in petrofuels. Studies have shown a reduction of these compounds by up to 85% in biodiesel.
• National Security
  The production of biodiesel within the U.S. decreases our dependence on foreign oils. In 2007, 20 million barrels of petroleum were displaced by biodiesel produced within the United States. Over the years, domestic production will continue to increase and displace foreign oils.

How is Biodiesel a "Sustainable" Fuel?"

• Energy Balance
  Biodiesel fuel has a greater energy balance than any other transportation fuel. An energy balance accounts for the cradle-to-grave energy required to plant, harvest, produce, and transport the fuel. A recent analysis by the University of Idaho and U.S. Department of Agriculture concluded that there is a return of 4.5 units of energy for every unit of fossil energy needed to produce the fuel over its life cycle.
•  Water and Land Conservation
  Of the land that could be used for agriculture today, only one-third is used, and of that, only one percent is reserved for biofuel production. Furthermore, crops are not planted or irrigated solely for biodiesel production purposes, and the conversion of their co-products and byproducts to biodiesel materials uses very little water. In 2008, the entire U.S. biodiesel industry used less than the amount of water required to maintain two golf courses over the course of a year! Compared to petroleum diesel, biodiesel production reduces waste water by 79% and hazardous wastes by 96%.
• Diversity 
  Biodiesel is made from abundant and regionally available, renewable resources. Soybean oil, other plant oils, recycled restaurant grease, and other fats may be easily converted to biodiesel. Increased interest and demand for biodiesel has encouraged an emerging field of research on feedstocks including algae, arid land crops, and waste materials such as trap grease. This will improve the diversity and efficiency of biodiesel feedstocks.

**The UMBC Biodiesel Club is currently producing biodiesel on campus! If you are interested, please visit http://my.umbc.edu/groups/biodieselclub or email umbcbiodieselproject@gmail.com.

Oh Chartwells how I adore thee! Over the last few years students have been working with Chartwells staff to make the dining experience at UMBC on-campus the best. However, this does not just include making lots of tasty food but also making such tasty treats as sustainable as possible. Here is a listing of what they have been up to recently:

Dining Hall:

Composting is here!

    Starting this past Monday food waste in True Grit’s is being composted!

 Three times a week left over food scraps from the kitchen are picked up and taken to a composting facility in Carroll County. Left-over food on YOUR PLATE is also be going there! 

     So your saying, what is the point of compost? Well there are a number of reasons why composting is important but here are just a few:

1. Composting reduces the amount of waste going to landfills. This is important because we don't need to send organic material that is heavy and takes up a lot of space to an area where space is very limited. Plus, landfills can be extremely toxic which doesn't make it such a nice place to for your banana peel to retire.

2. Composting returns much needed nutrients back to the soil. Our agricultural industry extensively uses chemical fertilizers to grow the food we eat. Composting helps to return these important nutritional elements like phosphorus, nitrogen and carbon back to the soil so they can be used again!

3. Composting is super easy! All you have to do is eat at the dining hall! Just think, when you eat there all of the food that you can't finish eating is now going to keep our campus looking fresh and green. For every ton of food waste we compost we get 40lbs of compost in return. That becomes a lot when you think that the dining hall produces 2,000 pounds of waste EVERY WEEK! 

Although composting is great, waste in general isn't the best for the environment even if we can compost it. So, try to eat all of the food on your plate and don't take more than you can eat. You can always get seconds!

Kitchen Grease Recycling!

       All the grease that the University uses to cook those tasty french fries or fried chick-fil-a bits is currently being recycled! Soon this job will be taken over by the Biodiesel Club on campus fuelling the campus bus fleet as well as electric carts.

True Grit’s is Trayless!

    By now, there are few students who remember the trays. However, before 2009 the dining hall was using hundreds of gallons of water, and lots of chemicals to clean trays that we didn't really need. 

Sustainable Seafood at True Grit’s!

    Did you know that many of the world’s fish stocks are declining? This is because of the type of fishing that we use as well as our overuse of easy and cheap fishing techniques that are destructive to ocean ecosystems.  To combat this, Chartwells has partnered with the Monterey Bay Aquarium to only use fish that is farmed or harvested sustainably. This helps to ensure a bounty of fish for future generations and gives species in peril a chance to replenish.

Cage-Free Eggs Abound!

     In order to make chickens (and your belly) happy, Chartwells has committed to purchasing cage-free eggs. According to the human society:

    “On average, each caged laying hen is afforded only 67 square inches of cage space—less space than a single sheet of letter-sized paper on which to live her entire life. Unable even to spread their wings, caged laying hens are among the most intensively confined animals in agribusiness...Unlike battery hens, cage-free hens are able to walk, spread their wings and lay their eggs in nests, vital natural behaviors denied to hens confined in cages. ”

   So happy omelette eating!

Local Week is next week! 

    Starting Monday September 19^th and continuing until Friday September 23^rd there will be local products featured at True Grit’s. Come by during this week to eat tasty, sustainable, in season fruits, vegetables, and cheeses (all while supporting your local economy to-boot!)

Water run-off reductions!

     You may have noticed the weird pond things around True Grit’s. These cattails serve a great purpose! By reducing the amount of water run-off in the area these ponds help reduce the erosion and chemical run-off that goes into the Chesapeake Bay.

Commons/ University Center:

Fresh Fusions has compostable materials!

   The containers and plastic utensils that you use to eat the tasty (and vegetarian) food from Fresh Fusions are compostable! This means that instead of 300 years to decompose, it can take only 3 years!

Chick-fil-A has paper cups!

    This may not seem like such a big deal since NEITHER the Styrofoam or the new paper cups can be recycled (paper cups can’t be because they are covered in wax which means they can’t be broken down as easily). However, converting from Styrofoam to paper cups has lots of environmental benefits.

    Styrofoam is non-biodegrable which means it can take hundreds of years to decompose (if it ever does!) The process of making Styrofoam also includes lots of toxic chemicals that are emitted into the air, water, and land that we breathe,drink, and use. Also, these same chemicals can leach out of the cups and other products we use them for into the food we eat (especially if micro-waved)! These chemicals threaten human health and reproductive systems.

     Now that Chick-fil-A has paper cups you can feel a little better about eating that fried chicken. =)